The present invention is particularly related to a puffer-type, compressed-gas circuit-interrupter of the single-gas-pressure-level type, being self-contained and supported up in the air by a utility pole, for example. Presently, power circuit-breakers are used at transmission voltages to protect and minimize damage to electrical apparatus used to transmit electrical energy. However, power circuit-breakers are relatively expensive and require some installation time, and, more importantly, must be periodically maintained, but do, in fact, provide a very good protective function.
As distribution-voltage protective schemes are extended upwardly to high voltages, such as sub-transmission and transmission voltages, for the purpose of reducing production system costs, and providing simpler apparatus to reduce maintenance, a need has arisen for a transmission voltage protective device, which provides a "fuse-like" "single-shot" protective function at a product cost much less than conventional power circuit-breakers.